Wednesday, June 06, 2007

How do I know? Well, being A Teacher, I estimate I have Confiscated about Seventeen Rubik’s Cubes over the past three weeks. Some of My Students have brought them to Rehearsals. Some, to Class. Others have been caught fiddling with one under their desk. The Rubik’s Cube is like A Weed – Take One Away, and Another One will sprout up somewhere new, probably just on the other side of the classroom. And they Multiply, too. If One Kid has A Rubik’s Cube on Tuesday, you can bet that Four More Kids will have A Rubik’s Cube by Thursday.

Not that I really have Any Problems with Rubik’s Cubes. After all, they are Puzzles, and Puzzles are good for exercising the mind. And we like Children to do that every now and then, especially while at School. But, they are also Totally Distracting, especially to Yours Truly, The Daily Randi, Product of The Eighties. Rubik’s Cubes were Everywhere when I was A Kid. I had, A Rubik’s Cube, A Mini Rubik’s Cube, A Rubik’s Cube Keychain, A Rubik’s Cube Belt Buckle, Rubik’s Cubes Pins, and of course, A Knock-Off Rubik’s Cube. So, when I see that Rubik’s Cube out of the corner of my eye, I want to pick it up and Solve It! “Hey, give that to Me!” I want to say. “I Can Do That!”

When they first started showing up in the classrooms, I told The Kids that I was Their Age when the Rubik’s Cube was first invented and it was A Huge Fad.

“I decided I was going to Solve Mine, so I went to the library and Checked Out A Book that gave me All The Cheats!” I informed them.

“Miss The Daily Randi, why couldn’t you just go Online and Find The Cheats?” asked one student.

“Who needs to go to The Boring Library?” said another.

“Sigh.” I replied.

So, it should come as No Surprise, that it being The End Of The School Year, I have Received As A Gift from Some Of My Students, A Rubik’s Cube. Now, I have My Very Own Puzzle to fiddle with!

“You No Longer have To Take Away Ours, Miss The Daily Randi!” the kids told me.

I think one of the reasons they are back is because of the movie, The Pursuit of Happyness, which includes a scene with the Cube....and Will Smith getting into the program b/c he was able to solve it....

I read this yesterday and thought "maybe it's an LA thing; I haven't seen them around at all here." Then today I was going all over the city and saw two different kids in Chinatown clutching them on two different buses.